


Legacy

by ComposerEgg



Series: Feels More Like a Memory [3]
Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Composer bullshit, Dreams, M/M, ship isn't the focus but it's there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 10:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerEgg/pseuds/ComposerEgg
Summary: Lightning frying every nerve, electricity searing through his body, blood turning to molten lava as he burns, as his consciousness is stretched thinner and thinner and his body disintegrates and his connections are made and---Joshua wakes up screaming.Air shreds its way out of his lungs, throat torn raw from its claws.He calls for Neku, because he doesn't know what else to do.(Part 3 in the series, will spoil the other parts if read first, and also not make much sense).





	Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> **_THIS SERIES LIVES YALL_**  
>  BET YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN THE LAST OF IT AFTER ALL THIS TIME, HUH? WELL GUESS WHAT, HERE IT IS!
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely [caveSalamander](http://cavesalamander.tumblr.com/), [socks](http://meredithsock.tumblr.com/), and [Roxas](http://a-nobody-named-roxas.tumblr.com/)!!! All wonderful people!!!!!

_Lightning frying every nerve, electricity searing through his body, blood turning to molten lava as he **burns,** as his consciousness is stretched thinner and thinner and his body disintegrates and his connections are made and---_

Joshua wakes up screaming.

Air shreds its way out of his lungs, throat torn raw from its claws.

Sitting up, nails dig into his scalp as he rocks back and forth, eyes shut tight to block out the outside world. Phantom echoes of his former ties with Shibuya tease at his mind. Just out of reach, the memory is not enough to connect him, bond him to Shibuya like before. It’s been like that ever since he remembered.

He reaches out on a whim anyway, feeling at the melodious song of Shibuya as she twirls around him, and takes a _punch_ to the inside of his skull when--

_A star goes supernova in his head and a thousand voices tear through his ears, a million lights burn into his eyes, oil and gasoline pollutes his lungs the stench enough to make anyone pass out and_

Joshua _throws_ himself backward and out of his head, scrambling to push himself into the corner where his bed meets the wall.

He hits hard stone instead.

Opens his eyes, just to confirm, even though he hears the Music, and Music doesn’t lie.

The Room of Reckoning surrounds him; cold stone walls, a desolate throne at his back, and barren of life. Not his warm, comfy bedroom at home, full of pictures and laughter and the ever-present aroma of coffee.

Biting back the bile bubbling in his throat and the panic threatening to rise, to consume him like a tsunami, Joshua breathes. Calm. Logical ideas. Logical solutions. Those are what he wants.

Projecting his thoughts as loud as possible, taking the whole of his consciousness and pouring it into a single word with the searing might of the sun contained within himself, he mentally shouts: **_NEKU!_**

The rebound from that intensifies the pounding drums in his head, reverb hitting him in waves like sound echoing around the cavernous room. Spots dance across his vision, but it does the trick. Neku, albeit a disgruntled Neku who is rubbing at his head, appears before him.

“Ow. Josh, what the _fuck_? It’s the middle of the night, _why_ would you do that? If it was a nightmare or something you could’ve just _texted me_ instead of giving me mental tinnitus for the rest of forever. Seriously--”

“I don’t know how I got here,” Josh says, cutting him off.

Neku stops and looks around, eyes widening. “Okay, what the hell?”

“I--I had a dream. And I woke up here screaming. My head _hurts_ and--and this isn’t my room, and I don’t know _how_.”

“I… hmm.” Neku closes his mouth, still rubbing at his head. Josh can see the gears turning. “What was your dream about?”

“It was disjointed, overwhelming. Pain and _awareness_ and--” the idea hits him like a brick, like the pain he feels after _jerking_ backward and slamming his head against the throne behind him when the thought registers.

“Oh shit.”

Neku looks on, eyebrows scrunched. “...Josh? What is it?”

“I’m gonna--I’m gonna try something,” he says, leaping to his feet, soft bunny slippers from Lapin keeping the cold concrete at bay. “I need you to stay quiet, but also try--Try to pay attention? To where I am? If this fucks up it could go bad.”

Before Neku can protest, Josh shuts his eyes and takes a mental swan dive backwards, into Shibuya’s Music. Her presence is familiar, the comfort of being wrapped up in warm blankets, and yet it’s not too familiar, new detergent with a different scent. It’s walking through a childhood home, after it’s been sold and lived in by the new owners. The halls are the same, the basic structure and foundation, but the furniture, the paint, your old bedroom, it’s all been changed, and the kitchen’s been remodeled.

However, it’s not too _not_ familiar. The neighborhood hasn’t changed, the outside looks the same, the ceiling texture still holds the hidden shapes and pictures.

Shibuya has always been his home, she always will be. She leaps to his side, Hachiko weaving all around his owner’s legs once reunited. Of _course_ Shibuya wouldn’t have forgotten their bond, even after death and reincarnation and a new Composer. If anything, Neku as Composer would’ve kept the spark alive.

It’s overwhelming, the tidal wave ready to crash down and drown him, but Shibuya holds him firm, and he grasps at her threads. Quantum strings woven together to create this beautiful city, illuminated by every person’s light, bound into one being. Musical staves and notes hugging him tight.

Joshua _pulls_ and pictures himself at WildKat, in his room.

When he reappears, he can see the moon, and not a trace of the Room of Reckoning. For a moment, the thrill of exhilaration washes over him, because that _worked_ , _he did it_.

Until he looks down and sees the roof a hundred feet below.

 _Well, guess I’ll die then!_ is what consumes his thoughts as he plummets, cold air biting at his skin and hair whipping with the wind. It’s alright, he would’ve liked more time being alive, not having to run the trials of the UG quite yet. The knowledge he holds numbs him to the fear, he’s died twice before, after all, and an impact death can’t hurt as bad as being Erased by a Fallen. The cement below doesn’t look inviting, but neither did a bullet through the skull, and in the end, that pain lasted just a moment. He just hopes he won’t be stuck bleeding out to death.

The impact he’s prepared for never comes.

He opens his eyes, and finds himself floating in the air, twenty feet above ground, with Neku’s hand wrapped around his wrist, nails digging into his skin.

“Joshua,” Neku says through gritted teeth, “what the _fuck_ , were you thinking?”

“That it’d be super cool if I could teleport, mostly, without regard for negative consequences of my impulsive actions.” Now that he’s not falling, the adrenaline trickles out of his system, and the pounding in his head is worse than ever. Even the streetlights make the throbbing ache worse.

“I’d drop you here and now if you weren’t actually alive,” Neku deadpans, but Josh just snorts.

“Nah, you wouldn’t, you _love_ _me_ too much.”

He shrieks when Neku lets go of his wrist, floundering in the air, only to find himself landing on his bed.

Neku stands to the side, a smirk on his face as he asks, “So, what theory were you so recklessly testing?”

Joshua takes a deep breath, pulling the weighted blanket over himself. It’s grounding, keeping him tethered to this location, this moment. It’s always been a physical anchor, maybe now in more ways than one.

“I think the connection between Shibuya and myself has been reforged.”

**Author's Note:**

> Part two isn't written yet, but it'll be a followup to this! I haven't touched FMLAM in so long yall I've missed it
> 
> [the invite to come hang in the twewy discord is always open!!!! You're all invited to join!!!](https://discord.gg/pEADe9J) We chat about headcanons, scream, share art and fics and stuff, and bond!! 
> 
> As always, yall are super allowed to say stuff in the comments, in fact I invite u to, I love everyone who interacts with me, even just in keysmashes!!!!


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